The Israelites felt triumphant as they departed Egypt for their ancestral homeland after four hundred years of slavery.
The ten plagues had demonstrated that God was on their side. They were following his physical presence in the pillar of cloud and fire. The Egyptian plunder they carried testified to his blessing. They were armed for battle.
They were self-sufficient.
However, when the Israelites saw the Egyptian army bearing down on them at the Red Sea, their self-sufficiency vanished, and their triumph evaporated.
Even though God had forewarned them of Pharaoh’s pursuit and had previewed his intention to save them, the Israelites panicked, grew angry with God, and doubted his plans.
They expected God to bless them with an easier life after leaving Egypt, but he did not live up to their expectations.
It is hard to fault the Israelites for feeling this way.
Until he sent the ten plagues, they had likely seen little evidence of God’s plan to end their slavery over the previous four centuries. They may have experienced false hope before and had many reasons to believe that God would let them down again, despite his specific assurance to the contrary.
As they walked through the Red Sea on dry ground between two walls of water, the Israelites saw the extent of their insufficiency compared with God’s sufficiency. They recognized that he was the true reason for their success.
We are like the Israelites.
When life is going well, we are prone to feelings of triumph and self-sufficiency. But when life gets tough, we become fearful, angry, and disappointed with God—despite ample evidence of his trustworthiness—because he no longer meets our expectations.
We invariably want God to rescue us sooner rather than later and to make life easy. He may choose this option, but he may instead use our misfortune to reduce our self-sufficiency, teach us new things about his excellence, and deepen our relationship with him.
